Tex. Transportation Code § 454.001: AUTHORITY.

(a) A municipality may own, purchase, construct, improve, extend, and operate a mass transportation system to carry passengers for hire within the municipality, its suburbs, and adjacent areas.

(b) A municipality, individually or in cooperation with the United States, may:

(1) undertake research, development, and demonstration projects for a mass transportation system in the municipality, its suburbs, and adjacent areas; and

(2) acquire, construct, and improve a facility or equipment for use, by operation, lease, or otherwise, in mass transportation service in those areas on, under, over, along, or across a public street or highway and on real property, an easement, or a right-of-way acquired for that purpose.

Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 165, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1995.